The Broadstairs tournament took place at the end of July, and Richard went along. Here is his report:
I entered two one day events held at Broadstairs on 27th and 28th July. Its a good option for anyone considering combining Scrabble and a summer holiday -you can easily walk to the beach from the venue.
I played in Division A on both days (8 games on each day) with day 1 being packed with good games.
I started Game 1 against the top ranked player so was very pleased to win the game 462-373. After two bonuses there was a nice spot for WILJAS near the end for 75 which sealed the win.
Game 2 was very exciting -a 514-477 win. I started with 3 bonuses in the first 5 turns -PERILUNE, ROOTSIER and FAWNERS to give me a 130 lead. The opponent put up a good fights with 3 bonuses and 2 50 point plays but I held on.
I lost game 3 476-418 but another good game -the opponent spotting the tricky OESTRIOL and then getting high scoring plays with the Q and Z.
Game 4 could have gone either way with the opponent having both blanks at the end but the board was quite closed so difficult to bingo and I held out for a 375-368 win.
Game 5 was similar -I had two early bonuses but the opponent came back with 55 for HOOPY and 76 for MELTIER towards the end. I thought I'd lost but found EDGER for 30 with several overlaps and hung on for a 421-418 win. See Board attached. (Please note HOOPY is not a valid word !)
Game 6 was the key game against the eventual winner. Opponent played ENGORED which opened a 9 timer opportunity -my rack was ABNOOS? I went for the 9 timer but played too fast putting down BANDOORS. BANDORES is good but I got confused and missed BRADOONS (a word I knew) which would have scored 149 .Spotted BRADOONS about a minute after playing the phony.
Despite that miss the game was still tight and would have been a tie of 458 each -unfortunately it was 5 point penalty challenge and I felt I had to challenge the opponents KEELAGES. Overall a missed opportunity to go to 5 wins.
Unfortunately the last 2 games didn't go for me and I lost both by over 100 to finish on 4 wins from but still enjoyed the day overall and had the consolation of the ratings prize.
Day 2 also started well. Started with SHRIMPS for 95 on move 2. Opponent then played CORTILES quickly unsure of whether it was good. CORTILE is good but and according to the definition is a courtyard so was a bit puzzled at then end of the game that it turned out to be invalid. However, pleased to find DYNATRON for 86 which helped secure a 450-393 win. See second board below.
The next 4 games were shared with the player that drew better winning so not the excitement of day 1. However game 6 was a painful loss as. We both started badly with me changing once and the opponent changing twice and playing a phony of MOTTLIER which I challenged off. Towards the end there were few opportunities to bingo and I picked up the J and Z which I though would be enough to win. Playing LUZ for 39 gave a 16 point lead but the opponent managed to score well with his final plays -29 for DON, 32 for AYES AND then 41 for HOS while there wasn't a great J spot. It was also a very complicated endgame to work out and my opponent was left on 12 seconds on his clock while I went down to zero seconds. I therefore avoided going overtime but lost 413-405.
The last 2 games were shared giving me 4 wins from 8 though pleased to spot SNAGLIKE in the final game.
A selection of my favourite words/bonuses played by me and against me are as follows;
Me - PERILUNE, ROOTSIER, FAWNERS, SNAILIER, ENNOBLED, MEDCINAL, DYNATRON, COTEAUS, GLENOID (non bonus), FOEDARIE, INTORTED, DENTARIA, SNAGLIKE
Opponents- OESTRIOL, STOVING, KEELAGES, SLEEKIER, INFERIA, IRIDEAL
